Sonic and the Elemental Guardians
by The Mirror's Wish
Summary: Strange things are happening in the worlds of Mobius and Soleanna. Climates are changing at an unnatural and devastating rate, and it's up to the long lost and forgotten power of the Elemental Guardians to keep it under control. The questions remain: Who are the Guardians, what can they do to stop this catastrophe, and who is behind it all? Follow Sonic as he finds the answers.
1. Prologue

**Alright, well here is my first story on here. This is something I've built upon in my mind for about a good year now, and I've filled in most of the holes. I'm hoping actually publishing it here will help give me the push I need to finish it. First off, I do want to say a few things: There will be many, many shippings in this story, and many of them either overlap or are one-sided. This story takes place in my own AU (alternate universe) that combines almost every generation of Sonic the Hedgehog, so if you absolutely can't stand the newer or older characters, I'd suggest not to read it... (Yes, this includes the less famous Underground characters, and yes, in their roles as Sonic's blood family). This AU includes a different kind of theory about the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds, so if something seems off from the canon, just roll with it and it will be elaborated upon later. There are many fan-characters in this story as well, about half of the 14 Guardians themselves (you'll find out in the story). One last thing, Cream is 18 in this story. The rest as far as age is pretty self-explanatory. **

**Anyway, read if you want, but keep things polite in the reviews. Critique and flat out hating on something are two completely different things. Trolls and flamers, keep your immaturity elsewhere.**

**Prologue**

Many thoughts raced through the young hedgehog's mind at that moment. He got one last good look at his friends standing before him-Tails and Knuckles. The golden light from the fast approaching dusk bathed the trio in a fiery glow. It was a remarkable scene, one that they would always remember as the end to that chapter of their lives.

"You sure you don't want to tag along, Tails?" Sonic asked. While he knew Knuckles would never stray too far from his island as long as the Master Emerald was there, it came as a shock to Sonic when Tails said that he didn't want to go with Sonic. When he had asked why, Tails responded, "I've got too many projects underway to just leave them behind..." Tails then cautiously went on to tell Sonic, "And I _really _don't want to leave Cream here... With just Amy, anyway." Sonic had understood. His pal, his, "lil' bro," was growing up; and Tails stood firm on his decision that evening, giving a simple but sincere nod of his head. Sonic smiled softly, rustling the slightly scruffy (and getting scruffier by the day) fur on Tails's head.

Sonic then turned to Knuckles, whose red fur was made somehow even deeper in color by the glow of the setting sun. Sonic gave a half grin, and Knuckles returned the favor. Knuckles, despite his shortsightedness, regarded Sonic's decision to leave with a sort of understanding. He knew what Sonic was after, and he knew why Sonic had to be the one to find it.

Things hadn't been right in Mobius as of late; in fact, things had been flat out _eerie_. The climate was changing, which is normal-but the rate that it had been happening on Mobius in the past years had been alarming. Wetlands were drying up, the arctic was melting, and snow was falling in deserts. The ocean levels were rising, and the freshwater was drying up, forcing international water regulations. Volcanoes that had been dormant for centuries suddenly began erupting, and earthquakes rocked the planet. In short, the planet was falling into chaos, and something had to be done.

Of course, it was impossible for Sonic and his friends _not _to notice, but what could they do? It's not like they could manipulate weather. ... But Sonic, with his determined "make-things-right" mindset, knew he had to do something. He just didn't know _what_, until, that is, he had a dream. In this dream, Sonic stood in a semi-circle with 6 other people. The only other person he recognized was Knuckles, who seemed just as surprised as he was to be there. Others in the circle included an orange tabby cat, a blue lynx-like cat, a panther with strange markings, a green hedgehog (who seemed oddly familiar to Sonic), and a towering Pitt-Bull girl. In the middle of the circle, an iridescent boa woman danced around... She had every aspect of "tribal," from the tattered robes and the intricate, wooden accessories she wore to the strange staff she carried in her hands. She slithered (as she had arms but no legs) through the semi-circle, examining everyone with a watchful eye. Once she had done that, she slithered back to her original position and pointed the staff at none other than Sonic himself.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," she declared, facing him. Sonic was confused-he had never met this woman before. How did she know his name?

"You're fast," the snake explained simply. "You can find the book in reasonable time." She hit the butt of the staff on the ground and the dream vanished in a whirl of smoke.

Sonic had awoken fast that night, and would have put it off as a strange dream if the boa from the dream wasn't standing right if front of him. Before he even had a chance to come to his senses, the snake woman spoke up. "You _will_ find it, won't you?" Sonic blinked a few times, and she held up a projection of the book in question using her staff. "This is what it looks like." Sonic seemed as impressed as his groggy self could muster-the book was leather bound, with almost magical gems lining the edges, and in the middle, there seemed to be half of a crystal ball. Sonic yawned, and then she said, matter-of-factly, "Yes, you will find it." With that, she told him to go back to sleep, which he did (due largely in part to the subtle but instantaneous sleep magic magic she used on him), and then she stepped out of the room. If one had followed her out, they wouldn't have found her anywhere in sight.

Of course, Knuckles had had the same dream from his own perspective. He thought it was just a dream, until Sonic told him what happened that night. It was at that moment that Knuckles understood that something bigger than "just them" was going on, and that Sonic was the only one who was meant to find the book.

Knuckles held out his fist, and Sonic fist-bumped him, avoiding his spikes. "Good luck," Knuckles told him, "with whatever it is you're looking for."

Sonic grinned. "Thanks." After another moment of staring, looking both his friends in the eye, Sonic finally mustered the courage to turn and leave. He glanced back once more and gave a single wave to his friends, which Knuckles returned and Tails was steps ahead of.

Once he was out of eyesight, Sonic broke out into a run and faded into the light of the sunset.


	2. Old Books and Battle Scars

**I decided to go ahead and upload chapter 1, as the prologue just seems short... Other than this and until I say otherwise, I'm going to try and upload a chapter a week. ... I ****_would _****do more, but my computer is... ahem, shitty. (Hey, this IS an M story, so I will curse all I want in my commentary here.) See, I can only type for about thirty minutes before it starts lagging in between letters, and that's really only if I'm not doing anything else on it. I'll try typing on my iPod as well (as it's honestly easier) but I can't make any guarantees shorter than roughly once a week - typing on something as small as an iPod hurts after a while. Well, without further ado, here is chapter 1!**

**Chapter 1 - Old Books and Battle Scars**

12 years. 12 long, _ridiculous _years, full of searching and searching, with absolutely no sign of the damned book to be found anywhere... Yet, there stood Sonic in an old, musty library in a small town called Birming, located just outside of the very place he wanted to avoid. Sonic hated libraries. He hated books, and he hated taking things slow. Every time he came to a complete dead end, he asked himself the same question: _Why am _I _the one stuck doing this? _This time seemed to be no different from the other infinite failures in the search for this ancient book.

_Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, _Sonic thought to himself as he flipped through yet another book. _Come on, think _positive_. You can do this, Sonic... Maybe you really will find the book here... Maybe you won't have to keep heading east to come across that damn village again... _He wasn't satisfied, so he encouraged himself even more fiercely. _I WILL find this book, and when I do, I'll never step foot into another library again! _However, no matter how many times he told himself that, a voice in the back of his head nagged him. _In your dreams, pal_, it said.

Sonic let out a very frustrated growl, slamming the book he had in his hand haphazardly into the shelf, earning him a glare from a librarian who just so happened to be passing by at the moment. Sonic gave an apologetic (if short of nervous) smile, and as soon as she was out of eyesight, he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Damn books," he muttered, moving on to the next row.

Closing time came way too soon (and yet not soon enough) for the hedgehog. He had made no progress whatsoever in that building, and the lack of progress was pushing him to the brink of insanity. However, his free-spirited side was glad to be out of there for at least eight more hours. As Sonic strolled along the sidewalk, admiring the warm glow of the antique street lamps in the cold, winter evening, he heard _that_ voice in his mind, "Perhaps you're looking in all the wrong places, hmm?"

Sonic stopped in his tracks, knowing what the expect, and out of an alleyway slithered the snake girl from his dream (whose name he had later found out was Bo), the one who put him on this forsaken search. Her scales glowed dimly in the twilight a nice, deep blue that contrasted well with the orange color her scales actually were. Most people walking by couldn't help but marvel at the sight of her, but this was the last person Sonic wanted to see. "Oh, it's _you _again," he muttered under his breath. "What do you mean 'looking in all the wrong places'?"

Bo shrugged, and Sonic groaned. "Can't you just _tell _me where it is? Wouldn't that make this search much easier?" Sonic had tried asking this question many times, and got the same answer every time. This time wasn't different; "Because that would be too easy, young hedgehog," Bo replied. Normally Sonic would just let out a small grunt of reluctance, but this time he was at his wit's end and scoffed, "What is this, a _game_? I thought this is a matter of how the future is supposed to turn out!"

"Of course it is," Bo replied nonchalantly, as though she's answered this question countless times before. "Everything, from the beat of a butterfly's wings to a king's ultimate decision of war, affects how the future plays out."

Sonic began to ask how a butterfly's flight could seriously affect the future, but stopped short and decided he didn't want to hear any more of the reptile's wise-talk. He had had enough for one day.

"Well, it doesn't seem as though you want me around at the moment, and you know I can't stick around for more than a few minutes," Bo began, "So I'd best be on to take care of some more 'goddess business'." Sonic chuckled dryly as the snake rounded an empty corner. Sonic glanced around where she stepped, and sure enough, she was gone. "Well, _bye_," he said ruefully.

_How _does _she do that?! _he pondered, starting into a brisk walk. He took note of the quickly darkening sky, and decided to find a place to stay for the night. As he walked, he couldn't shake off what Bo told him. ... _All the wrong places, huh? Well, I suppose it does make sense... After all... Why would a book this big, important, and _long forgotten_ be just any run of the mill library? ... Or _any _library, for that matter? After all, _I'm _the only person who has any idea of the past... Well, other than the others... But... _Sonic sighed and put it out of his mind.

_I need to find a motel, _Sonic remembered with a shiver. The already freezing temperature was dropping fast. Sonic took his backpack off and pulled out his fur cloak. He had picked up many useful trinkets along the way, and all of them were laced with the culture of the people who gifted him with them. The cloak clearly resembled the culture of the Northern natives, and it provided Sonic with substantial warmth when he needed it.

He continued walking down the street he was on, looking for any sign of a motel.

Finding a motel in the city wasn't difficult - finding one in his budget was the difficult part. He had a problem similar to this before, back when he first left Station Square. He was young and naive at the time, and blew all his money on the nicest luxuries he could find in a motel. Let's just say the hedgehog learned fast why budgeting is important. It was fortunate for him that he came across Bonnie and Lil' Bit around this time. The two lived in a town that seemed like an area unaffected by the advancements of time - it felt like stepping into an old western movie. Well, not only was the area itself old-fashioned, but so were the people inhabiting it. The people held beliefs that Lil' Bit and Bonnie, particularly the latter, were the sheer opposite of, and the two had to escape. Sonic helped the two get to a new farm in a more accepting area, while Bonnie let Sonic work for her for a few years to save up some money.

Bo, of course, was sincerely angry that Sonic was "taking his sweet time." Sonic argued that he couldn't do anything or go anywhere without enough money, and Bo responded that she could get him any money he desired. Sonic knew that the money had to come from _somewhere_, and it probably didn't come _legally_. Sonic flat out refused, arguing his logic, and Bo had retorted, "_Men_. All too proud to accept help when it's right in front of their eyes."

Sonic worked for Bonnie for about three years, saving up. In this time, he became good friends with the two. After a while, Sonic suddenly had a flashback to his dream, and recognized her immediately as the pitt-bull from the dream. He brought this up to her one day, and Bonnie had replied that she noticed him immediately for that reason but held back on telling him because she didn't want him to think that she was crazy. It was then that Sonic told her what was going on, and Bo appeared there to prove it to her.

Sonic thought that maybe he should go back and work for them again.

He continued walking down the street, pondering over the situation, until he spotted two familiar figures walking towards him. He ducked behind the side of a building. _What the hell is _she _doing here?! _Sonic thought to himself in complete and utter shock. _What would Sally be doing in a place like this?! _He specifically stayed in this small town to stay _away_ from his past, and _of course _here it comes, wandering down the street. He stayed silent and still, wrapping himself in his cloak. He listened closely as the girls, Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot, approached.

"... motels are full, not that there were many here in the first place." Sally's clear, cool voice rang. "It's too cold to just keep walking, especially at night."

"I know, darlin'," Bunnie responded in her Southern-Belle accent. "We'll figure something out, though, I'm sure." There was a moment of silence in which Sonic would have thought the girls had continued walking had it not been for the snow crunching under their feet. When it stopped, he peeked out and saw that they had sat down on one of the benches lining the street.

"I just want to know what happened to the dragons," Bunnie continued. Sonic's eyes widened. _WHAT?!_ He listened even more intently.

"I know, Bunnie," Sally said.

"I mean, darlin', they were all _dead_."

"Or missing." Sally sounded dead stressed. "There weren't enough corpses in that city to be the entire dragon population."

"Dragons, huh?" came _that _voice again. Sonic inwardly groaned. When she appeared, he hushed her without even looking. He put his attention back on the girls.

"... dragons to the Roboticizer?" Sally asked. Sonic flattened his ears against his head, and Bunnie accurately voiced his thoughts, "That would be bad."

"_Bad _is an understatement," Sally replied. Then it was quiet.

Sonic was lost in thought for a moment (_What happened to the dragons?_) until Bo told him, "You should go talk to them." Sonic growled, held his temples, and turned, only to be taken aback by Bo's tropical getup. She had a lei on, a flower in her, "hair," and was sipping a tropical smoothie from a coconut cup. Sonic held his hands up in frustrated defeat. "Okay, where'd you go _this_ time?"

Bo grinned. "I crashed a party." Sonic quite literally face-palmed.

"What kind of Goddess _are _you?!" Sonic asked exasperated.

"The kind that likes to have fun," Bo replied. "What's the fun of sitting up in the stuffy heavens? Eternity is a long time to do nothing. Besides, they were, how do you put it today, 'douchebags'." Sonic blinked and couldn't help but snicker a little at her use of profanity. Bo said again, "You should go talk to them."

"Yeah, not happening," Sonic replied simply.

"Why not?" Bo inquired. "They need help, and so do you. With your speed, I'll bet you can get them home in a reasonable amount of time, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind letting you stay there for the night..." She then added in an undertone, "... or awhile." Sonic glanced at Bo, suddenly suspicious. It dawned on him as quickly as his suspicion came.

"How'd you know I knew them?" Sonic asked.

"What do you mean?" Bo asked innocently. "It's not like I've been watching over you your whole life."

Sonic sighed. "Can't you just be blunt for once in your life?"

Bo sighed, and rolled her eyes. "I know you know them. I know you and Sally fell in love. I know she dumped you, and why. I know you ran away shortly after in a fit of rage, only to be followed by Tails and Knuckles. I know how pissed she was. I know you're scared because you don't want to bring up any old wounds."

Sonic growled. "Not _that _blunt..."

Bo shrugged, and the two stood there in silence. Sonic listened to see if he could catch any more information, and he thought he was out of the woods when they got up to leave.

Suddenly, Bo pushed him out into the open, causing him to yelp in surprise. Sonic was barely able to catch Bo's, "You're not getting out of this _that _easily," as he tumbled to the ground. Sally and Bunnie were in battle stances instantaneously. "Good luck!" encouraged Bo as she disappeared. Sonic glared at where she would have been, and braced himself for what was coming, knowing he had a long night ahead of him.


End file.
